Britten’s Ceremony of Carols 2024

The singing of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols has become something of a fixture in the Lancing calendar and on Advent Sunday, 1 December 2024, a congregation of over 400 gathered in a candle-lit Chapel for a service of vespers to hear this enchanting work once again. The service began with a simple service of plainsong sung by the tenors and basses of the choir with style and sensitivity. 

About half-way through the service, after the final collect, the sopranos and altos of the Choir gathered at the back of the Chapel under the Walker organ, to begin the Britten which opens with the plainsong Hodie Christus natus est. Processing up to the steps by the choir stalls to join the harpist, the sopranos launched into the radiant A major harmony of Wolcum Yole!. This was followed by the expressive and rhapsodic There is no Rose. The first soloist this year was Third Former Luca M, who stepped forward to sing the beautifully angular That Yonge Child with poise and precision. Maria N, Lower Sixth, soared to the vocal heights in Balulalow accompanied by the swaying major/minor harmonies in the Choir. 

The next two carols As dew in Aprille and This little Babe demand forthright singing and the Choir was on sparkling form here. In Freezing Winter Night challenges the singers with its broad phrases in 5/4 but the singers took this all in their stride. The duettists, Lili R, Lower Sixth, and Izzy M, Fifth Form, brought a momentary lightness of touch in the Spring Carol before the choral assault of Deo gracias with its fast-paced repeated chords. The whole service drew to a close with the uplifting Advent hymn Lo! He comes with clouds descending.

Alexander Mason 
Director of Music